Feminist Reads

By Sophia Simon-Bashall There’s nothing better than finding a shady spot and sitting in it for hours, safe from boiling to death. If it’s your thing, you can also lie out in the sun with your book – just don’t forget the sun-cream! If you’re stuck on what to read, you’re probably surrounded by suggestions…

By Anna Hill I’ve been enjoying even more than usual the summer time and its space for me to read, able to pick up and gorge myself on the books I want to read, rather than those picked out for me by out of touch, boring men. Here are a few that you might enjoy,…

By Anna Hill Content Note: sex work, sexual violence (in the novel, not in this review), racism (just a note that I’m white and not a sex worker) I first came across The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock when I watched a video with the author, Imogen Hermes Gowar, giving a tour and talking about sex work and Georgian…

By Anna Hill Content warnings: domestic and sexual violence When I Hit You by Meena Kandasamy is the first book I’ve read from the Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist this year (you can see the whole longlist and the newly released shortlist here), and it has certainly set a high standard. I’ve never read anything from Kandasamy…

By Pip Williams Content note: Discussion of anxiety On Anxiety is the first anthology from British micropublisher 3 of Cups. The press was set up by founder Clare Bogen, with the admirable goal of “providing a platform for voices otherwise unheard in the mainstream.” This means that On Anxiety is a diverse project, full of wide-ranging voice and experiences…

By Anna Hill Do you like feminist and queer books? I’ve read some really incredible stuff this year – some are just new to me in 2017 and some were published in 2017! We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samanth Irby I read this at the very beginning of the summer and it was…

By Sophia Simon-Bashall The Young Adult (YA) community in particular has been blessed this year with some wonderful and diverse reads, though all we’ve really heard about is John Green’s latest (which, granted, is pretty fantastic). It seems a shame that many talented writers and their incredible stories may have been overlooked because a few…

By Sophia Simon-Bashall Body positivity – or ‘bo-po’ – has been gaining mainstream momentum in this past year. In some moments, this has seemed wonderful. It is heart-warming and inspiring to be able to scroll through Instagram and see people showing their bodies some appreciation. Conversations have been started in publications and between people that…